Germany and Austria have strong traditions in operetta but here are some favourable comments written about a non-Germanic piece which impressed them in 1896.
"The music," says the Allgemeine Musik Zeitung, "is of an exceeding gracefulness, full of finesse in its invention and attractive in its instrumentation."
Again, in the Neue Musikalische Presse, we read, "After the ever-recurring valse and polka measure of our own recent operetta productions, it was a refreshing experience to listen to this music. *****'s couplets at once attract attention by the originality of their rhythm, his choruses by their harmonic beauty. The work once more contains a finely wrought quintet, which, however, demands better interpreters than are to be found amongst the general run of operetta companies."
And the work is...? The Grand Duke by Gilbert and Sullivan. It's a shame it's so neglected because it contains many points of musical interest.
I don't suppose this will attract many replies but I thought it was interesting to show what German critics of the time, whose opinion might count for something in these resepcts, thought.
That's very interesting - thanks for posting it! I know that Carl Dahlhaus, in his book
Nineteenth-Century Music, is also very favourably disposed towards Gilbert and Sullivan; I'm rather interested to know in general whether posters here would grant them a significance comparable to Offenbach, Strauss, Suppé, or Lehár, say?
